


Pull Me Up

by MusicalLuna



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, Gen, Lack of Punctuation and Other Niceities, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-10-25 10:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10762608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna
Summary: Tony is giving the Avengers a tour of the Tower after the post-Battle-of-New-York remodeling and he gets knocked into the pool.He reacts badly.





	Pull Me Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nightwalker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightwalker/gifts).



> onemuseleft asked:  
> Tony gets knocked into the water (pool, ocean, whatever) and accidentally inhales the water

tony is talking about the renovations he made to the tower, hands moving in wide arcs, and steve is trying to get clint and thor to _knock it off_ behind his back because they’re engaged in an increasingly furious contest of silent shenanigans that’s going to get noisy sooner rather than later and draw tony’s attention and that’s when thor gets a little rowdy and accidentally heaves clint off his feet instead of giving him a playful shove like he _meant_ to.

clint goes flying and head butts tony square in the back and they both plunge straight into the pool, not a foot in front of tony.

thor and natasha both laugh and steve is trying and failing to look stern. tony’s arms had windmilled a little before he all but bellyflopped in and it was kind of funny.

clint pops up almost instantly after he goes in and jabs a finger at thor. “it is _on_ , odinson!” he yells.

meanwhile under the water, tony isn’t moving.

steve’s smile slips. he hesitates, staring hard, and then dives, hoping tony’s just messing with them

the minute steve’s hands touch his waist, tony convulses and then he’s scrabbling at steve’s face, trying to climb him and fight him off at the same time.

steve has to get under him and shove him up toward the surface by the ass.

he surfaces to the sight of tony all but hacking up a lung, clawing his way out of the pool. he scrambles a few yards away on unsteady legs and then crumples in a defensive heap, coughing up water the whole way.

steve starts to go to him, shoving his soaking wet hair out of his eyes because he needs to see if tony is okay, but natasha barks NO and stops him in his tracks

the look on her face is wary and steve realizes why when he looks back at tony and sees the wild panic in his eyes. one hand clutches protectively at the arc reactor

stark, natasha says, where are you?

he blinks, shaking himself and shuddering and blinks some more. “ah.” the hand over the arc reactor feels around a bit and then he looks around, looks at them and the sheer terror eases out of his face a little bit. “tower. tasha?”

“da,” natasha says and crouches down, edges closer. “you fell in the pool. taste it?”

tony licks his lips and then nods jerkily, takes a shuddering breath. “yeah. pool. okay. i’m good, i’m fine. which one of you assholes knocked me in?”

clint and thor both squirm guiltily.

“maybe lets not do that again, huh?” tony says, and his knuckles graze the edge of the arc reactor again before he lifts his hands away and pushes to his feet. he’s shaky and his pupils are still a little too big, but he brings his hands up and squeegees some of the water out of his hair, flicks it in clint and thor’s faces, making them flinch.

“sorry,” clint says. “seriously. i’m really–”

“you’ll pay for it later, legolas,” tony replies easily.

“i, too, am sorry,” thor starts and tony waves him off.

“yeah, yeah, you too. remind me not to do anymore renovations for you ingrates.”

“i was listening,” steve says, keeping a straight face even when thor and clint both make faces at him.

tony just side-eyes him and smiles. ‘of course you were’

~ * ~

tony goes back to the workshop immediately after the tour, and as soon as the door closes, he has a minor breakdown.

he slides to the floor against the workbench, shaking from head to toe. he can feel his mouth trembling and he blinks furiously to keep the wetness in his eyes from going full tear. his chest aches from the impact of the water and there’s a sharp pinching that tells him something might have gotten knocked out of whack

“aha, I knew it,” natasha says and tony hears someone else’s intake of breath.

“JARVIS” he splutters and the bastard replies, “yes sir?”

natasha and steve—oh great, yeah, fantastic its steve—crouch down in front of him

“nice work,” natasha says. “I almost bought it.”

“I am fine,” tony grits, pretending he’s not on the verge of hyperventilating “what are you doing here”

natasha gives him a look. “remember how you wanted to be on the team?” she claps a hand to steve’s shoulder “steve’s our duly elected leader—”

“no he’s not”

“so he needs to know these things.”

steve reaches to touch his shoulder and natasha slaps his hand away with a stern look. “no touching. he has to initiate.”

steve looks appropriately chastised. “sorry. sorry, he just—you just look like you need it.”

tony closes his eyes and tilts his head back against the bench, swiping some of the cold sweat from his mustache. “I hate you right now, romanova”

“what else is new.”

“this is shell shock,” steve says slowly, like he’s putting it together, and tony can feel him studying him

“it’s called ptsd now, cap” natasha says.

“i don't—it’s not ptsd” tony protests

“okay,” natasha agrees

“it’s okay if it is,” steve says and tony huffs, eyes rolling over to look at him.

“thanks captain sensitivity.”

steve looks a little hurt by that, but natasha doesn’t even blink. “push all you want, tony, we’re not going anywhere.”

jesus, that’s right, he invited them all to live here, what the hell was he thinking?

“tony,” steve says and he looks up, realizes he’s doing the breathing thing again. “you don’t have to tell us what’s going on, but we’re here for you.” he gestures to the space next to tony and says, “may I?”

“what—i don’t…? sure?”

he’s startled when steve turns and eases down beside him, close enough that their shoulders touch. natasha gestures to his other side and tony nods, bewildered. she does the same and scoots in next to him.

it’s kind of terrifying having them bracketing him in at first, but they’re both warm—steve especially—and tony can feel his heart rate start to calm down

tony rubs at the corner of one eye. “so is this gonna be a regular thing?”

“i can’t sleep most nights,” steve admits and tony looks at him, surprised.

“what happened to ‘I slept for 70 years, i’ve had my fill'”

steve rubs at his forehead and smiles crookedly, peeking at tony from the corner of his eye. “i could probably use a few more winks.”

tony grins.

on his left, natasha lays her head on his shoulder and he turns his head, brushes a kiss to the crown of hers. “all right,” he murmurs, “maybe I don’t hate you.”

natasha’s mouth curves in a mischievous smile. “tell me something i don't know.”


End file.
